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by guest author Barbara Karnes, RN
Cure, Life-Sustaining, or Comfort Care
When someone is facing a life-threatening illness, they and their loved ones are often asked to make medical decisions they never expected to face. Unfortunately, most of us don’t fully understand the choices before us. Knowing the difference between cure, life-sustaining treatment, and comfort care can help you make decisions that honor the kind of life – and death – you want.
Cure, life-sustaining treatment, and comfort care. These are the three paths available when we are faced with a life-threatening illness.
Cure
Cure means providing a return to a “normal” functioning life. I put normal in quotes because the word can be misleading. What is normal for one person may not be normal for another. Cure implies being able to participate in and enjoy the activities of everyday living. It means the malady is gone or controlled.
Life-Sustaining Treatment
Life-sustaining treatment means keeping the physical body alive by whatever means are deemed necessary. Many people refer to these treatments simply as “life support.” They can include artificial nutrition and hydration, ventilators, dialysis, respirators, and other advanced medical procedures. The goal becomes preserving life, even when the quality of life is greatly diminished.
Comfort Care
Comfort care focuses on the quality of the life you are living rather than simply the length of that life. It includes physical care along with emotional, mental, and spiritual support. Comfort care addresses what is most important to your well-being now that your body is no longer able to meet all of your needs. It also guides and nurtures your family and those closest to you as everyone prepares for the end of life while continuing to live fully each day.
"Fix" or Provide Care?
We often get so caught up in getting “fixed” at any price that we lose sight of what our goal really is. Treatment does not necessarily mean cure. Yet most of us assume that if we do everything possible, we will get better. Sadly, too often we sacrifice the quality of the life we have today while pursuing a cure that may no longer be possible.
When deciding between cure, life-sustaining treatment, or comfort care, information and knowledge are vital components to making decisions. We need honest conversations about the likely outcome of treatment, the chances of success, life expectancy, and quality of life. Once you’ve had those conversations and decided what kind of living is most important to you, share those wishes with your physician, your family, and those closest to you—and put your decisions in writing.
There is no right or wrong choice. There is only the choice that best reflects your values and how you want to live the time you have.
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Barbara Karnes, RN, is an award-winning end-of-life educator, award-winning nurse, NHPCO Hospice Innovator Award winner 2018, and 2015 International Humanitarian Woman of the Year
While at the bedside of hundreds of people during the dying process, Hospice Pioneer Barbara Karnes noticed that each death was following a near-identical script. Each person was going through the stages of death in almost the same manner, and most families came to her with similar questions. These realizations led Barbara to sit down and write Gone From My Sight, the “Little Blue Book” that changed the hospice industry.
Gone From My Sight is the original, and remains the most widely used, patient/family educational booklet on the signs of approaching death. It has been in print continuously since 1985 and has sold over 35 million copies worldwide. With its publication and distribution, Barbara created one of the most important tools in the end-of-life movement today.
©2026 by The Rowan Report, Peoria, AZ. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in The Rowan Report. One copy may be printed for personal use: further reproduction by permission only. editor@therowanreport.com
